Here we are then. At the Twenty-Sixth golf tournament "Twenty-Six" has tipped on, and what a cracker.
The traditional warm up to THE Open, we are on the banks of the bonny Loch Lomond, one of the most picturesque courses in the world, and a real favourite of the pros.
Not only does it look good, the Loch crowd are "the most knowledgeable in golf" (to quote some of the players). Els rates this course as nice to play as Wentworth or Royal Melbourne, Mickleson adores it, and will be testing his sore wrist (fnar) again because he loves it so much, and Thomas Levet (winner in 2004) loves it too, as does Tom Lehman.
Most do, and you can see why. Their is a stunning view on evey single hole - a fantastic warm up to the main event at Scotland's hardest course next week!
Make no mistake though, each and every one of the 160 players this week would trade any victory here for a victory at Carnoustie next week. This is a big event, but NOTHING compared to the Open.
Loch Lomond has been very happy hunting ground for South Africans recently, with Els, Goosen and Clark all winning on the bonny banks, ('Seth Efrikans' have won here 4 times out of the last 7). Maybe that tradition will continue with a return to form of Ernie, who has had two weeks in Europe to get his head together, or maybe even Richard Sterne, the best all round golfer on the European Tour (score-wise) at the moment, but Tim Clark is warming up for the open at the John Deere, in the states.
This course, make no mistake, is posh and immaculate, very different from Carnoustie (although I've heard its more like Car-NICE-tie this year, with the rough cut back to encourage better scores, unlike 1999 and our last Major winner - Paul Lawrie overcoming the famous Van-de-Velde fiasco)!
Many pros treat this week a bit like a family holiday - big Phil certainly does.
The Loch is generous to errant drives with its wide fairways and although there is plenty of water around, there are many birdie opportunities for the brave.
Els heads the market, quite rightly so, for he has the best course form here by miles, though I'll leave him be this week. The Big Easy wants the big one MUCH more. Make no mistake there.
Luke Donald has great course form too, and although he's taken a month off, has been working hard on his game, and is up for this.
Mickleson will saunter around the course like a grinning farmer, but will not win here.
Goosen is having his worst season for years, so no go for the man who gave my Father free tickets to this event for years, after my Dad sold him a TVR once.
Cabrera blew the cobwebs away last week at the K Club, after his 150-1 US Open triumph. The generous fairways he likes, and if he holes some putts may well contend.
Garcia is not particularly liked in this part of the world, after throwing silly-girl temper tantrums in the past, and although his last effort here resulted in a top 10, I think he'll be eyeing the Open next week more than concentrating here.
Montgomerie is back to his best. He loves to win in his native Scotland, but do not believe the media when it is reported that the locals here would love Montgomerie to win. That is simple tripe. The romantics and tourists would like Montgomerie to win next week, but he, like Garcia is unliked at Loch Lomond, by those who know.
Poulter has god course form, Westwood mediocre, but Thomas Bjorn, who played some searing iron shots in France, and won the first Loch Lomond event, may well go better.
One outsider worth looking at is the old Tom Lehman. The man of God. (Kerreist!). He is playing some wonderful golf in the twilight of his regular tour career, has good course form here, and most certainly will take Loch Lomond seriously. He may well be worth an e/w punt, if the weather holds?
Another outsider worth considering is the very talented Andres Romero. His uncle (Eduardo - one of my favourite golfers of all time) won here in 2002, Andres is playing superbly at the moment, seems to come to life in July, and on his debut here last year, he finished 2nd. Add a wish to emulate his compatriot Cabrera, for his country, and I think he's under-rated by the bookmakers at 66-1.
Can "Twenty-Six" pull off a remarkable double by cleaning up on the twenty-sixth post, and also cleaning up on the twenty-sixth golf tournament?
The selections below will tell...
Balance: £421.21p
Selections:
Donald £1.50p e/w 16-1
Bjorn £1 e/w 40-1
Lehman £1 e/w 50-1
Cabrera £1 e/w 22-1
A.Romero 50p e/w 66-1
Stake: £10
Balance after stake: £411.21p
=======================================
Result:
Donald =4th
Bjorn =49th
Lehman m/c
Cabrera =19th
Romero 65th
Winnings: £3.75p
Profit/Loss: -£6.25p
Closing Balance: £414.96p
Comment:
Loch Lomond gave us a wonderful feast of champagne golf this week, and er, cough cough, I told you Phil Mickelson wouldn't win!
He really should have done though, being number 3 in the world, and being 2 shots clear mid way through the final round, but its fair to say that during the final round, he simply didn't play well enough to win - his drives are still very erratic! But, I admit, it did NOT look like he was treating the Loch Lomond week as a family holiday, as I (perhaps unfairly) stated in my preview.
I had high hopes after two rounds, with one of my outsiders, Andres Romero, sitting pretty at 8 under, after two majestic 67s, and lying very nicely in 2nd place. Then Saturday happened, Andres scored 2 TREBLE BOGIES and a host of other bogies to score an eventual 80! Bleedin twat!
Cabrera and Donald only played well in the final round, Donald especially so, at least giving "TwentySix" a small return (but unfortunately no profit from the 26th tournament).
Lehman DID seem to treat the bonnie banks as a family holiday, and Bjorn never got going.
Gregory Havret won in the end, after a thrilling playoff with Big Phil. It was very nice to see both Raphael Jacquelin and Thomas Levet hang around the eighteenth, and run on after Havret sank the winning putt, grinning like the French lunatics they are (or Levet is, anyway), to spray Havret with Bolly!
That is by far Havret's biggest win - a cool half a miwwwion paaands, and like so many other pros in the last few years, his recent success and consistency has been attributed to a change to a belly putter. Maybe I started a trend with my Rathmore Belly Putter!!! (ahem!)
One very strong critic of the belly putter, Ernie Els, played scintillating golf on sunday, is "The Big Easy" (after a poor season so far) timing his great golf for the big one at Carnoustie next week?
If you're an Els fan and want to have a little flutter on him, best you get your money on tonight (sunday) - because in the morning he'll be half the price. Mark my words.
Next week, the Big One.
Until then, grapple fans...
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